


Someone's Got to Tell the Tale

by QuixoticRobotics



Category: Hadestown - Mitchell, Princess Tutu
Genre: Gen, HAHAHA THIS IS A WEIRD ONE, Meta Bullshit, giving minor characters the love they deserve, hints of Train Dad, like. actual mytholgy refs. the real deal you guys, quick mentions of duck and orpheus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-12
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2020-12-09 14:29:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20996345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuixoticRobotics/pseuds/QuixoticRobotics
Summary: Two old friends meet up and discuss the nature of their work





	Someone's Got to Tell the Tale

It is a well known fact that all walls had cracks in them. Any good storyteller knows that holes in stories are unavoidable. And if you can find just the right spot, and know what you were doing you can squeeze right through.  
  
The crossroads between stories was made of clockwork. Gears turning, plots unfolding, this was behind the curtain, so to speak. A place for lonely strangers were tasked with setting the stage and watching everything unfold.  
  
However despite it’s endlessness, it wasn’t empty. Hermes heard the sound of cheerful crank organ music, and smiled, approaching his friend. “Miss Edel.” He greeted cordially, giving a somewhat playful bow. “Mr. Hermes.” She replied with a formal curtsy.  
  
Now, Edel was a doll, created by some twisted old storyteller who could bend reality with the stories he spun. He had died a long time ago. But stories don’t die the way people do, and so he wandered this plane. Now that he didn’t exist among the living he needed a stand in. Someone who could gently push the story in the right direction. This is where Edel came in.  
  
“How are your doomed lovers?” Edel asked in a voice that suggested disinterest. But it was a sincere question, that was simply how Edel spoke. No need to give a puppet feelings, especially one tasked with overseeing a tragedy.  
  
“Same as always.” Hermes answered. He carefully took a seat on the nonexistent floor, and Edel followed his motions. He let out a sigh. “They haven’t met each other yet, but that part is coming soon”  
  
Edel nodded her head, showing understanding of her friend’s plight. She was familiar with the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. Hermes had watched it play out several times since meeting Edel, and although her circumstances were different from his, she understood.  
  
“Eternal love brings great joy and greater sorrow” She said. Hermes wasn’t sure exactly what she was referring to, but he felt what she meant. Edel understood feelings much more than she gave herself credit for, truth be told.  
  
“Miser Hermes, may I ask you a question?” Edel said. Hermes was somewhat startled by how forward that was by Edel’s standards. But he was happy to answer a question.  
  
“You Raised your Orpheus. That means you have a personal attachment to him, correct?”  
  
“That’s one hell of a question” Hermes replied.  


It was actually a very simple question and the answer was a resounding yes.  
  
Hermes was actually very good with people. This is a useful skill to have if you are a psychopomp. Breaking the news to someone that they are no longer alive can be Emotionally Intense, to say the least.  
  
Being good with people also meant being friends with the living. Hermes had been a dear friend with Orpheus’s mother, and she ended up with a mortal baby she couldn’t care for, Hermes had gladly taken Orpheus in. He’d watched the boy grow into a young man. And Hermes couldn’t help but care about him. Hermes knew this young man who he was proud of, that he had raised, was going to fall in love, and fight impossible odds and get SO CLOSE to the finish line, And he was going to fail.  


Every damn time. At the exact same point, for the exact same reason. An eternity of love that meant eternal sorrow.  
  
And someone had to tell the tale, to keep the story alive and breathing so that maybe some day it’d play out well. And that was where Mister Hermes came in.  
  
“I do care about him, yes.” Hermes answered. Eternal love that meant the same knife twisting over and over again.  
  
“Thank you.” Edel said “It seems I may have a problem, then.” she said, the faintest hint of melancholy in her voice  
  
“What is it?” Hermes asked, this was unlike Edel, to ponder feelings so deeply  
  


“The girl playing a roll in Herr Drosselmeyer’s story. Every day she speaks to me. She greets me and asks questions. She feeds the birds every morning. She cares for everything. She thinks that she can save everyone, that the story will have a happy ending.”  
  
“Will it?” Hermes asked, having a pretty good guess at the answer.  
  
Edel was silent  
  
“It’s strange, you know, watching a love story play out.”  
  
“How do you mean?”  
  
“Once upon a time a man fell in love with a maiden, and they were wed. One day a serpent struck the young maiden down. In his overwhelming grief, the young man set out to retrieve his beloved from the land of the dead. But was feeling so strongly a strength or a weakness?”  
  
A moment passed. Edel wasn’t sure if she’d been too cryptic or if she’d hit too close to home.  
  
“The girl, the one from your story, you’ve grown attached to her, haven’t you?” Hermes asked. If his feelings had been hurt, it didn’t show  
  
Edel nodded.  
  
“Sometimes these kids hope so hard I start to think they’re right.” Hermes said, a tiredness you’d never hear on stage leaking into his voice.  
  
“You do always say ‘maybe it will turn out this time’ when telling your story, do you not?” Edel asked, standing up daintily, despite her robotic stiffness. Hermes stood up as well.  
  
Edel would often play the role of a merchant selling gemstones. However, she’d taken to giving each stone a name. She opened the box where she kept the colorful gems on display. She carefully picked up a smooth, dark orange stone and handed it to him. “Which one is this?” Hermes asked. “Resilience” Edel answered.  
  
Time passed strangely behind the curtain, but a good storyteller can tell when they’re needed, and it seemed intermission was over. The two friends turned to head in opposite directions.  
  
“It was a pleasure talking to you, Miss Edel.” Hermes said  
“Likewise, Mister Hermes.” Edel responded.  
  
And so they set off to face whatever fate had in store this time around. 

**Author's Note:**

> I LEGIT HAVE NOOOOO IDEA IF THIS MAKES ANY SENSE IF YOU ARENT FAMILIAR WITH THE PLOT OF PRINCESS TUTU AND HADESTOWN! So if this was incomprehensible i hope it was at least enjoyable. Princess Tutu and Hadestown both are very much about storytelling and both series explore the nature of tragedies, whether or tragedy serves a purpose, and if it does, what purpose does it serve? Edel and Hermes's rolls in their source materiel were similar enough that i had to see them interact. Also both characters are largely ignored by the fandom, which is the REAL tragedy (also if you know what happens in princess tutu im sooooo sorry for the fridge horror) 
> 
> I had a ton of fun writing edel's unique way of speaking. I have no idea if im any good at writing hermes (also in this house we depict orpheus's mother as loving and responsible enough to know she cant raise a kid. because thats nicer and more interesting)


End file.
